LED Moth Trap

    I read an article a while ago about using LED's instead of BL or MV. Thought the LED's caught very little compared to the MV and the BL, I thought I would try to build a LED trap for myself. I did a little bit more research and found out that 4 360-370nm UV leds can catch more than a 20w BL. So I ordered all the parts and am currently putting together a trap. I hooked up a nine volt and that seemed to power the leds fine. I was wondering if anybody in the Actias community would have any expirence with trapping with leds?

    • http://www.insektitaet.de
    ANZEIGE

    An interesting idea,leds use less power,and if a person could have more light power for the same battery power/life,it would be
    a handy thing.
    It's never occurred to me to change my current setup,the goalzero battery I use will power my 20 watt uv for about two nights,and
    usually,I don't stay out longer,but I can see how leds could be useful.
    Keep us posted,and maybe a photo.

    Maybe someone is interested in the article, I guess, it's this one: Gunnar Brehm - A new LED for the collection of nocturnal Lepidoptera ... ?

    The author is also selling his LepiLED. A more expensive product, EntoLED, is available at bioform. I don't have experience with this products, so this is just for information.


    You may also find instructions for self made LED-traps in the internet, for example here.

    I've talked to Gunnar Brehm about the Lepiled and it seems that the light works best at attracting smaller species such as noctuidae, sphingidae and geometridae. He only caught a few Saturniidae, and that was in Equador. It would be interesting to see what the light attracts in a temperate zones where I live.

    I have seen the LepiLED working last year. We had three light towers put up that night here in south Germany. One tower with LepiLED, one with two 15W tubes and one with several lamps (I don't know exactly which ones) and generator. The latter atracted the most moths, but as I know the site it also was in the best position by far. So I'd be rather careful over-interpreting this one-time experience.

    In my opinion a good location is crucial for success e.g. a "good" lamp in bad site will be almost useless and a tiny lamp in a good site will still have some good results. I'm also convinced that a high-W lamp will in generally attract more specimen. But as I understand the main goal was to creat a extreme light-weight, robust alternative with a broad spectrum of wave lentghs. That aim was clearly achieved.

    Conclusion: I think, if it's worth it depends on where you want to catch which kind of moths. :winking_face:

    Kind regards,
    moe

    That is true, you have to have the right location in order to get the best results. I have a specific site in the northern part of the state the I plan on trapping this summer. I was able to catch over 150 different species in one night. But that was with a 400w mv. So hopefully my light works.

    • ANZEIGE

    Hi Leute,

    hab mir den Luxus gegönnt, und mir die lepiled "maxi" gekauft, und hier nun mein kurzes feedback:
    Gestern, 01.05 fast noch Vollmond, allerdings kplt bedeckt, temperatur 9 Uhr ca 15 Grad, um 23 Uhr noch ca 12 Grad, Inndamm bei Brannenburg, in ca 15 m Entfernung Auwald.
    Und für diese nicht gaaaanz so tollen Bedingungen war ich echt sehr zufrieden!

    2 × S. ligustri
    1 x S. pinastri
    5 x M. tiliae
    1 x S. menthastri
    Ca 30 x E. sororcula
    2 x T. Batida
    1x D. falcataria
    1 x A. aceris
    1 x O. plecta
    1x P. meticulosa (wohl ein Einwanderer?)
    2 x S. fagi
    2 x capucina
    1 x tritophus
    1 x c. anachoreta
    Ca 15 D. pudibunda
    1x palpina
    1x L. marginatha
    1x M. alternata
    Ca 10 x C. clathrata

    Und dann noch ein paar unbestimmte Spanner, ca 10 Arten...

    Also bis jez bin ich überzeugt,
    schauma moi was der Sommer noch so bringt...

    Schönen Abend und Grüße
    Hans

    Ps.
    Sorry verplant
    War ja eigentlich englisch...

    Naja auf die Arten kommts ja an...

    Hi

    I built this moth trap (see link below) and had some success when it was placed inside a mosquito net.
    The location was however poor with other light sources close by.
    I mostly caught small moths.
    I still have to try it in an isolated location.

    I hope this of use to you.


    A better moth trap using LEDs? – petermobbs

    This was the whole thing that got me started on designing a new LED moth trap. I also built it and found that the lights were only targeting a certain spectrum. Peter only used one UV LED that I believe is a 360nm uv. I found that using 5 differ uv's attract the most moths. I have also found that adding green, blue, white and full spectrum will increase the catch. I plan on trapping tonight so I will definitely take pictures

    No problem. I added a cool white LED to cover the end of the spectrum (10,000-15,000nm) But found out that it really didn't attract everything other than just a few geometridae. So I took the cool white off. I'm pretty sure I found the best mix to maximize the catch. But i'm still working on what the actual light will look like. My 3d printer and soldering gun arn't working right now so I will try to post some pics after I get those fixed.

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